Insulation - any ideas?

Dear all,

I'm rehabilitating an old hut of wood, and I'm looking for a way to insulate it. It's situated in a cold an rainy climate.

Thank you in advance,

Hello Tandberg78,

I would try a strawbale wrap with good a boot and hat. An earthern plaster is my favourite but sounds like you would need a good overhang with all the rain or you will be recoating in lime soon after.

I might also want to move the windows out with the walls as a deep window seal in a rainy climate can also cause probs you need to consider all your drainage issues. Do rainwater catchment, french drain around perimeter, slope the grade away, stem wall for the straw with a membrane to stop water wicking up into the bale, straw is great for insulation but dont let them bales get wet until you got some good plaster on them at least.

Also are you doing the work yourself? How much time you got and what ideas are you considering so far, if any?

  Check out wood chip clay. If you have good siding it wouldn't make sense to try to insulate from the exterior. This material can be retrofitted into an existing building and given an earthen plaster material so that your interior will appear to be cob or rammed earth.

Do you have any constraints? There are probably hundreds of options.
Foam panels (I like the prefeb kind with a vapor and reflective heat barrier), wool/denim batts (probably not great unless there are no leaks), fiberglass, bubble sheets, straight wood.

I know it's not the greenest, but I'm probably going to use foam panels like this one when I insulate the cabin. If I had the money, I would do spray foam as it provides the best seal overall. I like the idea of investing in something like this up front as you will reap the rewards for the lifetime of the house.

Caveat Emptor, though: http://www.xpsa.com/tech/Tech%20Talk%20Bulletins/PDFs/Sustainable%20R%20Value%20Roof.pdf

Reg. constraints - non toxic, free of cost, and everlasting

The siding is going to be new, the problem is that it almost touches the ground, (10-15 cm off the ground..) It's at the north side of the house, so there is never sun there.. And six moths a year its winter, snow probably builds up and although I've made a drain and strengthened the foundation, damp and water will always be an issue there.  

Do I need to worry about moist if I go with wood chip clay; Dale? The siding will be in wooden cladding board, I'm using 2x4 (5X10 cm) to build the frame, and I was planning on using plasterboards on the inside. But, I could use cob on the inside, in principle.. Do you have some good tutorials and online resources, Dale - or other ideas?

Thanks

Here is a picture of the hut. I'm very tempted to try straw with clay as insulation..

If you thinking about straw and clay, I have around 50 videos on the subject on my You tube and many more on other green stuff. I am reading chris Magwood's strawbale book at the moment and he was saying straw is hollow so traps small pockets of air which is a great way to insulate. However I am now curious as to the difference in insulation R value between a bale of straw and a straw clay slip wall of the same thickness. In clay slip straw I guess those pockets would be smaller as saturated in clay so therefore less but who knows, hmmmm hang on I have a few books here.

In econest by Robert Laporte it says R value of their clay walls using slip forms is 1.7 per inch or R 19- for a 12" wall. For straw bale R value vary but seem to average around R 35 for an 18" wall.

Anyway if you havent built this way before then I suggest lots of learning before starting. I am planning on a few practice runs with walls and sheds before a home. If you do straw please film it and I will put in on my channel.

Good luck
Enviroman

http://www.youtube.com/enviroman101

Just an update with some photos. I decided on using papercrete, and so far I am pleased with the results. I plan to plaster the inside wall with hydrated lime, and try to make tadelekt. I will build a new wood frame on the concrete/stone wall, to sustain a new roof. I plan to fill the rest of the wall with a mix of 50% papercrete and soil. For the exterior coating I'm not sure what to use yet.

Best regards

Are you using the papercrete on the outside of the building?

Sorry for taking so long to awnser - yes, but I will plaster it with a cement based waterproofer. I have still to erect the new walls, so I have no photoes of a finished wall, but they will be a very thick layer of papercrete - probably a bit more than 40 cm at least on the north facing wall - and then plastered with lime on the inside and a waterproofer on the outside. I will update with pictures in some years